Barclays Boosts General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Price Target to $310.00

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) had its price target lifted by Barclays from $285.00 to $310.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the aerospace company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut General Dynamics from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, February 3rd. Alembic Global Advisors cut General Dynamics from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $296.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $283.80.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of GD stock opened at $284.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $278.37 and a 200 day moving average of $258.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $78.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics has a twelve month low of $202.35 and a twelve month high of $296.50.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.57 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after purchasing an additional 133,061 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,667,549 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,212,024,000 after buying an additional 345,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,228,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $962,711,000 after buying an additional 259,855 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,081,488,000 after buying an additional 147,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company Profile

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.